Entering the LOST WORLD OF KHARAMU
For starters, I’d really like to thank Hunter for inviting me here to be a guest on his blog and talk about my own recent take on dinosaurs, “The Lost World of Kharamu”. We both tackle horror from different directions, so it’s kind of amusing we’ve crossed paths this summer at an intersection marked by giant man-eating lizards.
For me, this is my first venture into the sci-fi arena – traditional, old-school horror stories are my usual dish – but truth be told, I’ve always been fascinated by dinosaurs. My earliest figurines were those hard-wax dino figures they used to sell in mall parking lots back in the day, the ones that used to melt in the sun if you forgot and left them out on the back porch (like I did). From there I went on to an ill-conceived attempt to build a dino-diorama, signing out every dinosaur book in our local library and Saturday afternoon features like “Lost World”, “The Land That Time Forgot”, and so on, movies that were pretty much over-the-top schmaltzy kid’s stuff. But I didn’t take them that seriously.
Until, that is, “Jurassic Park” showed up in the theaters.
Spielberg’s block-buster was a game changer. No stop-action Harryhausen figurines here – from the moment those thundering creatures appeared on that huge IMAX movie screen, those suckers looked terrifyingly real. The first time that T. rex roared, my knuckles went white on the arm rest and that scene where Jeff Goldblum is being chased? I still cringe. Michael Crichton’s book were no less amazing because the science behind them all seem plausible.
So, when it came time for me to cook up my take on the genre, the obvious question was: What on earth could I possible add to this?
Drawing from my experiences traveling in England, India, China and southeast Asia seemed like a good place to begin. Along with a whole bucketload of ‘what ifs?’. “The Lost World of Kharamu” takes its main character, renegade paleontologist Dr. Grant Taylan, on a rollercoaster ride from the Hudson Valley to the Natural History Museum in London, Mumbai India, and ultimately to a remote island in the South Pacific where a Chinese tech corporation is having the beta trial run of its ultimate cosplay themed vacation park. This ‘Lost World’, however, has its own special perks: a place where the ultra-rich not only get to play out their 1950s Universal monster-movie fantasies, but fight and kill real dinosaurs in the bargain.
Along with Australian dino-expert Audrey Adams and Indian Systemologist Roma Banaji, Taylan has to outsmart Russian black-market fossil traffickers, a relentless bunch of Vietnamese commandoes with a contract on his head, a psychotic ex-girlfriend, a Texas billionaire with a John Wayne complex and of course, dinosaurs. Not just the traditional sauropods and Tyrannosaurs we know and love, but also the swift, brilliantly-feathered Zhenyuanlong and the terrifying Utahraptor.
“The Lost World of Kharamu” is really intended as a throwback to adventure story-telling, with more of an adult twist and plenty of black humor. Don’t look for a Disney-theme here. If that interests you, I’ll be giving away two ebook copies free to random drawn responses to this blog, on Hunter’s discretion.
Thanks again, and as Mr. Romero said: stay afraid!
Hunter Shea 
This sounds right up my alley! I can’t get enough of dinosaurs…..I guess I never outgrew that phase of life. Best of luck with the book, Robert.
Robert is a fantastic spinner of tales. You’ll say his book is “DYNOmite!” when you read it.
me me me dude love these kinda books ann
Sounds good
It is!
Sounds like a lot of fun, Robert! Congrats on the release.
Hope it goes well not nough books like these most books bore the crap outta me hunter shea is great writer
Aw, you flatter me! 🙂
This looks awesome!!! I love creature feature books!!
Pick it up and enjoy!
You win a free e-copy of the book! Email me at huntershea1@gmail.com so I can send it to you.
This looks awesome!!! I love creature feature books!!!
This looks awesome!!! I love creature feature books!!!
This sounds AWESOME!!
There is always a need for a good chomp and stomp creature feature!
I totally agree and this one fits the bill!
It’s time for a new scary dinosaur book! It looks amazing! I would really like to read it.
You’ll really dig it. 🙂
And now you can with a free ebook! Email me at huntershea1@gmail.com so I can send it to you. 🙂
Sounds like a great book to add to my must read list.
This sounds so up my alley! Thanks for the chance to win a copy!!
You’re very welcome!
Sounds like an amazing adventure.
Best of luck. 👌🦖🦕
As long as it does NOT include Jeff Goldblum, I’m all for it! Stegosaurus rules!
It’s Goldblum free. LOL
Dinosaurs are so fascinating!! I think we are fascinated with dinosaurs for the same reason we are fascinated by Great White Sharks-there is something primal in us that responds to becoming prey instead of always being top of the food chain-human beings are enthralled by the destruction mother nature can mete out-I think it makes us realize how perilous our position is on this planet, and how quickly we can lose that position even as suddenly as the dinosaurs.
I agree. I always wonder what will eventually take our place on the planet. I’ll put my money on rats that grow enormous. 🙂
Love the cover. Looks awesome!
We’re getting a new dog soon and I’m wondering if this wouldn’t make an AWESOME name for the puppy! Hee hee… All kidding aside, from the days I owned all the plastic dinosaurs (back then even with the dizzying chemicals wafting gently into my brain on warmer days) and knew their names and histories (please: EVERYONE knows T-Rexes and Stegasauri couldn’t fight because they lived in different eras), I’ve been addicted to the Great Lizards! Long may they reign!